The Indian men's and women's cricket squads for the Asian Games were announced by the BCCI on Friday. Ruturaj Gaikwad was captain of the men's squad for the Hangzhou Asian Games with IPL star Rinku Singh also getting his due. Rinku, whose exclusion from the T20I series in the Caribbean was questioned, has made the cut for the Asian Games scheduled from September 23 to October 8.
The continental games coincide with the start of the ODI World Cup and that is why a B team has been named. Shivam Dube, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma and Prabhsimran Singh are the others who have been picked at the back of a stellar IPL. It was a coming of age season for Dube who helped CSK win a record equalling fifth title.
Jaiswal scored a hundred on his Test debut against the West Indies on Thursday before going on to become only the third Indian to score 150 in his first game for India.
Tilak has also been named in the team which will face the West Indies in a five-match series from August 3. Former India captain and coach Ani Kumble feels that the selected players are out of ODI World Cup contention (which begins on October 5) at least for now.
"I think in the starting line-up yeah. There's still time from now till October so anything can happen. If there is any injury concern or any niggle I am sure players can be pulled in from the squad into the World Cup. I don't think anything is written in stone. At least for now these set of players won't be available for the World Cup because both are clashing," Anil Kumble said on Jio Cinema.
"It will be great experience. Being part of the Asian Games, being part of the Games village."
Team India (Senior Men) squad for 19th Asian Games: Ruturaj Gaikwad (Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rahul Tripathi, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Shivam Mavi, Shivam Dube, Prabhsimran Singh (wk).
Standby list of players: Yash Thakur, Sai Kishore, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Sai Sudarsan
India women's squad for 19th Asian Games: Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wk), Amanjot Kaur, Devika Vaidya, Anjali Sarvani, Titas Sadhu, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Minnu Mani, Kanika Ahuja, Uma Chetry (wk), Anusha Bareddy Standby list of players: Harleen Deol, Kashvee Gautam, Sneh Rana, Saika Ishaque, Pooja Vastrakar.
(With PTI inputs)